I'm very confused about this statement, A16 was the build I joined the game on and got many of my friends to play on. An we would pack up and ride out on minibikes to loot far away towns and citys I don't think the smash items together mechanic was perfect and many good things were done A17 and it looks like there are good things in A18. Looting got hit hard and hit bad in A17 but now it seems like you are way over correcting in the other direction. I think the 1-6 quality rating is part of the problem for both crafting and looting. In A16, sure the incremental increases were not game changers but they made the difference between a level 100 item and a level 600 actually feel like a large jump. As for the idea that you don't want people sitting in their base crafting good stuff, so what. Sitting in your base crafting is that players decision. I also wholeheartedly disagree with the idea that there was no reason to loot. Crafting the good ♥♥♥♥ took a long ass time and you could find better stuff in the mean time. I don't know where the balance is and A17 was a big change and I still liked it but it condensed a lot down and removed a lot of nuance that was there. Yes I haven't played A18 yet and I am still excited for it however I want to point these issues out because I want the concern known. Through many of your statements I get this feeling you end up to over correcting for things that are not entirely an issue. It also just sort of feels like you have this contempt for the part of the player base that wants to build a strong defense.

I have contempt for walls of text for sure.

I explained the difference in a previous post you needed 10 things and you were done, had the best of the best, and the incentive to play and keep looting was over just as quick as it started. Now you could literally loot 500 sniper rifles and somehow find a better one tomorrow. Same goes for steel boots, etc and to top it off there are 300+ books and schematics to find.

Are you are saying we added too much loot? I don't think that many people will complain that there is too much loot. I have contempt for legacy designs that people grow attached to that were bad for the game. A good game requires a mix of thought, creativity and risk/reward. Former versions of the game required no effort to be safe, (dig underground and seal it with a frame) no risk to craft some of the best things in the game (armor for example) and literally no choice or character builds, there was one build, survivor/exploiter.

last I checked blood moon can be turned off, blood moon horde damage to blocks can also be adjusted. I think also zombie block damage. so why is everyone so worried about demolisher zombies damage or hordes wrecking a base? just change the settings instead.

I swear most of the things people complain about here in the vanilla game can easily be fixed by changing the settings a bit. if you refuse to change the settings then it's a personal problem.

Excuse me? Where did I ever insult you? I joked around using imagery you brought up (tears of sadness and happiness) but I answered all your questions straight and true. I got it wrong that baseball bats could be perked into-- one mistake and it was because I got the book for making baseball bats in one of my playthroughs and didn't think about how I knew it. Madmole corrected my mistake but that doesn't mean everything I have answered you is inaccurate.

You even admitted to not even reading to the end of one of my posts which also had information you were asking about-- and that was a sincere and honest attempt to help you not to worry about what you haven't played yet. <shrug> If you ask questions and then can't even take the trouble to read the answers then why are you even here asking?

All I have been telling you is that your worries are unfounded. You can play and succeed using a playstyle that doesn't go heavy into questing and looting. You can be an intelligence guy and use some of the coolest new weapons in the game. The weapons and tools you will be able to craft will be bad ass for doing the amount of killing it sounds like you want to do.

Finally, all of this is still a work in progress. If you and others play and the feedback comes back that Intelligence is way too gimped, Madmole will sic the QA guys on it to verify and they will make adjustments. You turn the dial one way and then turn it back the other as you balance. You don't turn it one way and then abandon it because people who haven't played it and are speculating on the bits and pieces they know are having a sad and worried reaction to it.

Sorry you find me insulting. It isn't intentional. Wait...did you even read this past the first sentence.....?

Madmole the video was great! It appears that late game is awesome now!

No matter what please do not nerf it because of peeps complaining about it being too hard. I am looking forward to playing it and it will give me a reason to rent another box to host a server again!!!!!

Awesome, I can't see turning it down, start over or turn down the difficulty if you can't handle the heat or get some friends, more traps, etc.

Being a straightforward 'arsehole' beats being a passive aggressive smart-ass in my book. I think we all have concerns about our playstyle based on what info we can glean from what little has been given, but that's what 18.1, .2, .3 are for, if it's even necessary. Sure some bugs can be missed by testers, but I doubt they're going to overlook everything that could make one of the class builds completely gimped and worthless or just plain not fun.

Exactly. Lets not knee jerk over in development pre release stuff please. Thanks for the compliment.

Madmole, I really think that the All night horde should be tested with you doing another new game, survival, full steel reinforced late game uglyarse tower with an iron bar cage for vultures with full fledged defenses 100 molotovs and 5000 bullets with an m60 with 120 min game and 64 Zds alive.

And jump to the Day 140 horde. If the horde doesn't deplete while in the 30 min horde night, then you have supported every single mode of the Zd amount settings to be fun. If it does deplete (as it is likely to), the 120 min setting will be a coitus interruptus as with every Zd amount setting in a 17.4, therefore 120 min with 8,12,.....etc count will also su** a bit.

I like 64 alive. It's perfect. 8 very bland. And below 32, well. Horde night or a sweet visit?

Edit: Your base is gorgeous, I really think so. Just not a good one for Zd fighting nor for testing Zd amount purposes. And fixing it will likely take 3 times more resources and require a bit of ugliness and destroying. That's why I ask this test of you.

What your nuts. I'm not doing that lol. Molotovs might as well be eating broken glass no thanks. I'll have some grenades ready though on my next horde. Noone could survive what you say IMO. Day 140 is meaningless, its GS that matters.

One cannot please everyone. All they can do is create the best experience/product/vision/etc. they can possibly make for themselves and for others, meanwhile in the background, trying to please as many people as possible. I think TFP have A18 on lockdown. Keep up the excellent work, and I propose a toast to the greatest game that has ever been conceived!

Thanks to that last sentence above, I'm getting hungry. Time to make myself a sandwich.

Thanks, while I might sound like an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, I'm just passionate about the game and am in dad mode. Don't like this change, too bad its good for the game you will thank me later when your not bored AF.

In your gameplay to day 84, how many absolute points did you earn to be used for purchase
and what was your personal ascension level was it a 1:1 ratio?

Also as you played did certain base attributes str int percep int agil unlock or advance as your
skillpoint level progressed or are they strictly through purchase, Not their sub trees?

Perks bought depend upon player pref, genre playstyle, and type of build during playthrough and the
occasional fatfinger oops, or what is this button for.

GS level depends on how hard I dig in and survive. So that will vary for me depending on how deep
a do a particular playthrough. Since you have release t ability to have the world clones in A17, I
have a constant 5 genworlds same same change in name only. On each I play differently to get a real feel
for how other Genres play using their rules. Actually 4 are for that, 1 is just for me to go Walkabout.

Thanks for that by the way. I like choices and flexibility. and chaos and damge.

Thanks, while I might sound like an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, I'm just passionate about the game and am in dad mode. Don't like this change, too bad its good for the game you will thank me later when your not bored AF.

And that is what I respect about you. Not only do you take feedback from the playerbase, but you love your own game. You are not blinded by your own vision either, but vision you have nonetheless. I can't say the same for many developers, even many indie developers. Now go and show those doubters a thing or two and create the greatest alpha in 7D2D history. (But just remember, perfection is impossible. )